The Greatest Psychological Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
836 Second Thoughts Michel Butor 1957 French French
840 Confessions of a Mask Yukio Mishima 1949 Japanese Japanese
844 Civilization and Its Discontents Sigmund Freud 1930 Austrian German
849 Regeneration Pat Barker 1991 British English
856 Conversation in the Cathedral Mario Vargas Llosa 1969 Peruvian Spanish
858 The Woman in the Dunes Kobo Abé 1962 Japanese Japanese
861 We Have Always Lived in the Castle Shirley Jackson 1962 American English
862 Smilla's Sense of Snow Peter Høeg 1992 Danish Danish
869 Woodcutters Thomas Bernhard 1984 Austrian German
871 Wieland Charles Brockden Brown 1798 American English
882 The Hour of the Star Clarice Lispector 1977 Brazilian Portuguese
884 Homo Faber Max Frisch 1957 Swiss German
888 Drunkard Émile Zola 1877 French Unknown
894 Rosemary's Baby Ira Levin 1967 American English
895 The Ravishing of Lol Stein Marguerite Duras 1964 French French
897 The Darkroom Of Damocles W.F. Hermans 1958 Dutch Dutch
910 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster 1985 American English
916 Malice Aforethought Francis Iles 1931 British English
922 The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen 2015 American English
925 Deliverance James Dickey 1970 American English
949 Nada Carmen Laforet 1944 Spanish Spanish
956 The Girls of Slender Means Muriel Spark 1963 British English
962 The Diary of a Country Priest Georges Bernanos 1936 French French
967 The Heat of the Day Elizabeth Bowen 1949 British English
975 The Reader Bernhard Schlink 1995 German German
976 Rogue Male Geoffrey Household 1939 British English
977 Couples John Updike 1968 American English
981 It Stephen King 1986 American English
982 Speedboat Renata Adler 1976 American English
989 The Grass Is Singing Doris May Lessing 1950 British English
994 Blindness José Saramago 1995 Portuguese Portuguese
1001 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
1010 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
1015 Justine Lawrence Durrell 1957 British English
1023 Transit Anna Seghers 1944 German German
1024 Some Prefer Nettles Junichiro Tanizaki 1929 Japanese Japanese
1031 The Temple of the Golden Pavilion Yukio Mishima 1956 Japanese Japanese
1044 A Ghost at Noon Alberto Moravia 1954 Italian Italian
1065 La Bête humaine Émile Zola 1890 French French
1070 Birdsong Sebastian Faulks 1993 British English
1073 The Lottery and Other Stories Shirley Jackson 1948 American English
1086 Misery Stephen King 1987 American English
1088 The Dwarf Par Lagerkvist 1944 Swedish Swedish
1090 The Kreutzer Sonata Leo Tolstoy 1889 Russian Russian
1095 The Swimming-Pool Library Alan Hollinghurst 1988 British English
1096 The Transit of Venus Shirley Hazzard 1980 Australian English
1107 The Heart of the Matter Graham Greene 1948 British English
1132 Lenz Georg Buchner 1836 German German
1131 Ashes and Diamonds Jerzy Andrzejewski 1948 Polish Polish
1136 The Black Prince Iris Murdoch 1973 British English
1135 The Tunnel Ernesto Sábato 1948 Argentinian Spanish
1145 The Bone People Keri Hulme 1984 New Zealand English
1153 Beast In View Margaret Millar 1955 Canadian English
1181 The Painted Bird Jerzy Kosinski 1965 Polish English
1184 In A Lonely Place Dorothy B. Hughes 1947 American English
1200 Mating Norman Rush 1991 American English
1201 Kafka On The Shore Haruki Murakami 2002 Japanese Japanese
1210 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks 1984 British English
1212 A General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis Sigmund Freud 1920 Austrian German
1220 The Return of the Soldier Rebecca West 1918 British English
1219 The Time of Indifference Alberto Moravia 1929 Italian Italian
1229 Strait is the Gate André Gide 1909 French French
1240 Strangers On A Train Patricia Highsmith 1950 American English
1254 Death and the Dervish Meša Selimović 1966 Bosnian Serbo-croatian
1261 The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood 2000 Canadian English
1268 A Kiss Before Dying Ira Levin 1953 American English
1279 Psycho Robert Bloch 1959 American English
1286 The Invention Of Morel Adolfo Bioy Casares 1940 Argentinian Spanish
1312 The Stories of Raymond Carver Raymond Carver 1981 American English
1311 Boredom Alberto Moravia 1960 Italian Italian
1314 Under Satan's Sun Georges Bernanos 1926 French French
1317 To Each His Own Leonardo Sciascia 1966 Italian Italian
1321 A Question of Power Bessie Head 1973 Botswanan English
1324 A Judgement In Stone Ruth Rendell 1977 British English
1331 Cathedral Raymond Carver 1983 American English
1334 Hangover Square Patrick Hamilton 1941 British English
1335 Kiss of the Spider Woman Manuel Puig 1976 Argentinian Spanish
1342 The Principles of Psychology William James 1890 American English
1366 The Adversary Emmanuel Carrère 2000 French French
1369 Veronica Mary Gaitskill 2005 American English
1371 The Devil's Elixir E. T. A. Hoffmann 1815 German German
1375 The Sea of Fertility Yukio Mishima 1965 Japanese Japanese
1385 The Bell Iris Murdoch 1958 British English
1411 Concrete Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
1421 Ubik Philip K. Dick 1969 American English
1435 Life After Life Kate Atkinson 2013 British English
1439 Édes Anna Dezső Kosztolányi 1926 Hungarian Hungarian
1458 The Ballad of the Sad Cafe Carson McCullers 1951 American English
1460 Never Mind Edward St Aubyn 1992 British English
1478 The Shipyard Juan Carlos Onetti 1961 Uruguayan Spanish
1479 The Wall Marlen Haushofer 1963 Austrian German
1484 Independence Day Richard Ford 1995 American English
1485 A Perfect Spy John le Carré 1986 British English
1487 Kokoro Natsume Sōseki 1914 Japanese Japanese
1491 Presumed Innocent Scott Turow 1987 American English
1498 A King Alone Jean Giono 1947 French French
1522 Cancer Ward Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1967 Russian Russian
1525 The Late Mattia Pascal Luigi Pirandello 1904 Italian Italian
1537 The Owl Service Alan Garner 1967 British English
1538 Snow Orhan Pamuk 2002 Turkish Turkish
1547 What Maisie Knew Henry James 1897 American English
1553 Beauty and Sadness Yasunari Kawabata 1964 Japanese Japanese
1554 The Unconsoled Kazuo Ishiguro 1995 British English
1559 Character F. Bordewijk 1938 Dutch Dutch
1562 Burnt Offerings Robert Marasco 1973 American English
1563 Runaway Alice Munro 2004 Canadian English
1578 The Cement Garden Ian McEwan 1978 British English
1584 A Severed Head Iris Murdoch 1961 British English
1593 Good Morning, Midnight Jean Rhys 1939 British English
1595 The Garden Where the Brass Band Played Simon Vestdijk 1950 Dutch Dutch
1601 The Ego and the Id Sigmund Freud 1923 Austrian German
1601 Studies in the Psychology of Sex Havelock Ellis 1897 British English
1607 Pan Knut Hamsun 1894 Norwegian Norwegian
1623 Corregidora Gayl Jones 1975 American English
1625 The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch Philip K. Dick 1965 American English
1630 Halbzeit Martin Walser 1960 German German
1636 The Collector John Fowles 1963 British English
1637 The Sportswriter Richard Ford 1986 American English
1646 The Pledge Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1958 Swiss German
1649 Cat's Eye Margaret Atwood 1988 Canadian English